Capping mechanism



1 s. F. ANDERSON 2,060,967

' CAPPING MECHANISM Original Filed Spt. so, 1952' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 17, 1936-.

S. F. ANDERSON CAPPING MECHANISM Original FiledSept. 30, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 17, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Divided and this application November 1, 1934, Serial No. 750,950

6 Claims. '(Cl. 226-92) This invention relates to a mechanism for applying caps to containers and has more particular reference to the capping mechanism disclosed in my co-pending application Serial No. 635,482, filed September 30, 1932, of which the present application is a division.

One object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for applying caps to successive containers having novel means operating to prevent the feeding of a cap into applying position until the previous cap has been applied to a container.

The invention also resides in the novel character of the means for applying .the caps to the 15 containers and for enabling the mechanism as a whole to be adapted readily for handling containers and caps of varying sizes.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed panying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a filling and capping machine embodying the features of the present invention. 5 Fig. 2 is a skeleton perspective view of the main operating parts of the machine.

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Figs. 5 and 8 are perspective views of parts of the capping mechanism.

Figs. 6 and '7 are sectional views taken along the lines 6-5 and 1-4 of Fig. 4.

While the invention is susceptible of various modifications and alternative constructions, I have shown in the drawings and will herein describe in detail the preferred embodiment, but it is to be understood that I do not thereby intend to limit the invention to the specific form disclosed, but intend to cover all modifications and alternative constructions falling witnin the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the form selected for purposes of illustration, the invention is embodied in an automatic machine for filling cups ill with material such as ice cream and applying caps or disks II to the open ends of the filled cups. The cups commonly used have a downwardly tapering body portion adapted to receive the cap snugly at the upper end and providing an inwardly opening annular groove l2 in which the cap becomes seated with the withdrawal tab I3 on the cap projecting upwardly. The cups to be filled are stacked in a cup dispenser l4 and released one by one onto a conveyor l.5 by which they are'moved to filling description taken in connection with the accomposition beneath a hopper i6 containing the ice cream and thencevto a capper ii.

The conveyor i5 is of the endless belt type mounted on drums l9 rotatably supported from the main frame structure and driven from a main drive shaft l9 through shafts 20 and 2| connected to the drive shaft and the drums through appropriate gearing. The drive shaft is driven by an electric motor 22.

As each cup is moved by the conveyor to the capping station, it engages two pins 23 upstanding from the conveyor and serving to position the cup properly beneath the capping mechanism and above a platform 24 which is mounted for vertical reciprocation on guides 25 and actuated by a cam 29 on the shaft 2|. lowered, a cam 21 on the shaft 21 momentarily withdraws the stop fingers 23 beneath the conveyor and permits the capped cup to move out of the capping station as is more fully described in the aforesaid application.

Referring now to the capper IT with which the invention is concerned, the upward movement of the platform 24 with a cup supported thereon is utilizedto force a cap into the open end of the cup. To this end, a disk 28 adapted to be received in the open end of the cup is secured to the lower end of a rod 29 secured at its upper end to a bracket arm 30 projecting forwardly from a plate 3| carrying guide rods 32 in which the caps are stacked, the plate itself being supported by and detachably clamped by bolts 33 to a plate 34 rigid with the frame of the machine. Slidable vertically on the rod 29 is a housing 35 enclosing the disk 29 and having an upwardly converging annular surface 36 for centering the cup relative to an annular shoulder 31.

When the housing 35 is in its lower position (Fig. 4), the cap to be applied may be fed into applying position directly beneath the disk 28 where it is held by the pivotal fingers 38 disposed in a horizontal guideway 39 and yieldably pressed inwardly beneath the under side of the disk as shown in Fig. 7. Now as the platform 2 with a cup thereon is raised, the upper edge of the latter first strikes the surface 36 and after being centered by the latter engages the shoulder 31. The housing 35 then rises with the cup, the cap being held against rising by the disk 28 and thus is forced off from the fingers 39 into the open end of the cup, the edges of the cap becoming seated in the groove l2 as the housing reaches its uppermost position (Fig. 3). The housing is lowered by gravity to the position When the cup is again shown in Fig. 4 as the platform 24 is retracted to lower the cup onto the conveyor. Y

The guideway 39 extends through a lateral extension of the housing 48 and, when the latter is in its lower position, the guideway is alined with a guideway defined by ledges 4| (Fig. 6) on the under side of theplate 3|. At the rear end of the latter guideway, the plate 3| is apertured to receive the lowermost cap in the 'st'aEk'jYhich is arranged with the finger tabs l3on the caps projecting rearwardly.

The lowermost cap is stripped from the stack and fed along the guideways into applying position by a shuttle 42 reciprocable forwardly and backwardly through the housing and supported from the plate 34 by a slide 43 also guided for endwise movement by the-plate.- ,The slide and shuttle are connected and adapted for relative longitudinal adjustment by means of a nut 44 threading onto the rear end of the shuttle with its periphery disposed in an upwardly opening notch in the slide.

' Projecting downwardly from .the slide 43 through a slot 45 is a pin 45 having a pivotal connection with one end of a lever- 41 pivoted intermediate its ends on a vertical stud 48 and having its other end 41" joined top. bar 48(Fi g.

2). The latter is guided for endwise reciprocae tion on the machine frame and; constitutes the follower of a barrel cam 58 on the shaft t9. ,The cam is shaped to shift the link backwardly; and thereby feed the shuttle forwardly shortlyafter the capped cup is lowered out of engagement with the housing 35 and the latter has moved downwardly to bring the cap guideway 39 into alinement with the guideway in the plate 3i. Later the link 49 is moved forwardly to retract the shuttle from the housing 35, this occurring prior to the succeediifg upward movement of theplatform 24. Since the conveyor l5, the platform 24, and the cam 49 are all actuated from the-common drive shaft, their motions occur in a definite timed relation. i a Pivoted at 5l on the shuttle and urged upwardly by springs 52 housed. within. the shuttle are two arms 53 having shoulders 54 upstanding therefrom adapted to engage the lowermost cap in the stack as the shutter moves forwardly. Thus, during each forward stroke of the shuttle and slide, a cap is normally removed from the stack and slid along the guideways into. applying position (Fig. 4) directly beneath the'disk 28. Means is provided for preventing engagement of the lowermost cap I I by theshoulders 54 during advance of the shuttle 42 in the event that there is .already a cap within the housing 35, that is to say, in the event that the cap fed into the hous ing in the previous cycle of the machine is ,not removed by presentation of a cup thereto in the precedingupward movement of the platform 24. The means herein employed for this purpose comprises a member operable in the forward or cap-feeding movement of the shuttle to raise the stack of caps above the level'of the shoulders 54 and thus maintain the shuttle inefl'ectu'al until the housing 35 has been raised by a cup on the platform 24. Said member may take the form of two connected bars 55 disposed on opposite sides of the shuttle.

Normally; when the shuttleis retracted (Fig. 3), pins 56 projecting from the plate 34 are disposed opposite the flat surfaces-51 of notches "on the undersides of the barsand irr-this position of the bars, the uppersurfacesof the latter. are

substantially flush with the shuttle: surface permitting the stack of caps to rest upon the latter and the lowermost cap to be engaged by the shoulders 54 in the next forward movement of the shuttle. In the latter part of this stroke as the cap is slid into the housing 35, the forward end 58 of the slide 43 strikes a rod 58 joining the forward ends of the bars 55 and shifts the latter forwardly in the final movement of the slide. In such movement, inclined surfaces 58 on the bars rideupon the pins 56 which thereby raise the bars bodily and finally become seated in sockets 5| (see Fig. 4). The entire stack of caps is thus elevated so that if the bars 55 are allowed to remain thus shifted forwardly, the lowermost "'ca'p' l I will not be engaged in the succeeding for- .ward movement of the shuttle. I Preferably, the upward movement of thehous- "ing 35' by a cup on the platform 24 is utilized to indicate removal of the cap from the housing and to cause retraction of the bars 55 before the next advance of .the shuttle. For this purpose, a 'cam surface 53 is formed on a lateral extension of the housing 35 in a position to be disposed immediately beneath cooperating surfaces 84 on the bars 55 when the latter are shifted forwardly as shown in Fig. 4. Thus, as the housing 35 is raised by the cup, the bars 55 are cammed backwardly presenting the surfaces 51 to the pins 56- thereby lowering the bars and the stack of caps to again bring the lowermost cap into the path of the.

,shoulders, 54. In the event'that there is no cup on the pl'atform 24 when the latter is raised,.-the positions of the bars 55 will not be disturbed, and ;-the lowermost cap will be held above the shoulders 54 so that. the shuttle will makean idle cost of equipment required to be changed in order to adapt the machine to caps of widely varying sizes is reduced to a minimum. The plate 34, the capguides 32, the capping housing 35 and the-plunger 29 may be assembled as a unit capable of being detached readily simply by releasing the clamping bolts 33.

I claim as my invention: 5 1. The combination of capping mechanismoperating periodically to apply caps one. by one to a succession of containers presented thereto,

means for moving containers one by one into operative' association with said mechanism, means supporting a stack of caps, a member movable periodically across one end of said stack to withdraw the terminal cap therefrom and feedthe cap into said mechanism, cam means acting during movement of a cap into said mechanismjo move said member andsaid caps relative to each other out of engaging relation, a part movable ;transversely of the direction of movement of said rcap as an incident to application of the cap-to a container, and cam means actuated by said part for; restoring the normal relation between said oaps and said member. s

- 2. The combination of capping mechanism operating periodically to apply caps one by one to a succession .of containers presented thereto, .means formoving containers one by one into operative association with said mechanism, means ysupportingt-a stack of caps, a-member movable crating periodically to apply caps periodically across one end of said stack to withdraw the terminal cap therefrom and feed the cap into said mechanism, a part movable in a direction transversely of said member to eflect application of a cap to a container, and a disabling element shifted by said member into a position to prevent subsequent engagement of the member and the terminal one of said caps, said element being shifted in the opposite direction by said part.

3. The combination of capping mechanism operating periodically to apply caps one by one to a succession of containers presented thereto, means for moving containers one by one into operative association with said mechanism, means supporting a stack 01' caps, a member movable periodically across one end of said stack to withdraw the terminal cap therefrom and feed the cap into said mechanism, and means operating automatically to hold the next terminal cap out of engaging relation with respect to said moving member until a container has been moved by said first mentioned means into active engagement with said capping mechanism.

4. The combination of capping mechanism opone by one to a succession of containers presented thereto, means for moving containers one by one into operative association with said mechanism, means supporting a stack of caps, a shoulder periodically moved transversely of said stack and operating to strip the terminal cap from the stack and move it into said mechanism, a part actuated as an incident to movement of a cap into said mechanism to effect relative movement between said stack and said shoulder whereby to prevent effective engagement of the shoulder and a cap during the subsequent movements of the shoulder, and means operating in the application of a cap in said mechanism to a container to move said part back to inactive position.

5. In a capping mechanism, the combination of means supporting a stack of caps, a member movable periodically across one end or said stack to remove caps therefrom and move the caps successively into a position for application to a container, an element actuated in timed relation to the movement of said member to move a container into engagement with the cap in applying position, a part actuated by said member during removal of each cap from said stack to move the caps out of engaging relation with respect to said member, and means actuated by said element to render said part ineffectual.

6. The combination of a capping mechanism operable to apply caps one by one to a succession of containers presented thereto, means for moving containers one by one into operative association with said mechanism, means supporting a stack of caps, a slide movable periodically across the lower end of said stack and having a shoulder thereon operable in the active movement of the slide to withdraw the lowermost cap from said stack and feed the same into said capping mechanism, a second slide disposed beneath said stack and adapted to be shifted endwise in the "final active movement of said first mentioned slide after the lowermost cap has been removed from said stack, cam means acting during shifting of said second slide to raise the remaining caps in said stack out of engaging relation with respect to said first mentioned slide, and means operable automatically as an incident to application of the removed cap to a container to shift said second slide back to inactive position.

SWAN F. ANDERSON. 

